AFGHANISTAN Grave abuses in the name of religion - Amnesty International
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AFGHANISTAN
Grave abuses in the name of religion
1. Introduction
Amnesty International has for years consistently expressed its concern about the human
rights abuses perpetrated by all sides in the conflict in Afghanistan. These have included
the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on
residential areas, deliberate and arbitrary killing of thousands of men, women and
children by armed guards during raids on their homes, unacknowledged detention of
several thousand people after being abducted by the various armed political groups,
torture of civilians including rape of women, routine beating and ill-treatment of civilians
suspected of belonging to rival political groups or because of their ethnic identity. In a
major report published in 1995, Amnesty International documented these and showed
how the arms and ammunition sent by foreign powers to their favoured warring factions
were being used to commit serious human rights abuses.
This report focuses specifically on human rights abuses by the Taleban, a
relatively new force in this tragic conflict, which now controls about two thirds of
Afghanistan’s territory and the seat and mechanisms of government in the capital, Kabul.
It in no way seeks to condone the serious abuses by other groups, on which Amnesty
International has commented widely in the past, or to make comparative judgements. Nor
does it confer recognition on one party or another. The abuses being inflicted by the
Taleban represent yet another layer of suffering in the continuum of abuses to which
Afghan civilian populations have been subjected over the past 17 years of armed conflict.
Since the emergence of the Taleban as a military and political force in late 1994,
Amnesty International has received continued reports of abuses perpetrated by the
Taleban militia in areas they control. These include reports of indiscriminate killings,
arbitrary and unacknowledged detention of civilians, physical restriction of women for
reasons of their gender, beating of women, beating and ill-treatment of detainees,
deliberate and arbitrary killings, amputations, stoning and executions.
In Taleban controlled areas, thousands of women have been physically restricted
to their homes under Taleban edicts - which ban women from going to work or leaving
home unaccompanied by a close male relative and girls from going to school - fearing
physical assault by the Taleban guards if they leave home without a reason acceptable to
them. Scores of women have been beaten in the streets for not wearing a burqa, or
exposing their ankles. In some areas, children have been brutally slapped for playing with
their toys in the street. Hundreds of men, possibly over one thousand, have been taken
prisoner and continue to be held in arbitrary and unacknowledged detention, while
dozens of men have been beaten in the streets to make them attend Friday prayers in the
mosque. Torture and ill-treatment of the detainees has occurred frequently with some
prisoners being held in metal containers for months. A number of prisoners have died
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while digging trenches in mined areas, or as a result of torture. Scores of people have
been killed deliberately and arbitrarily on suspicion of anti-Taleban activity. At least one
man has been shot dead in Kabul for not attending prayers at the mosque, and one woman
has received Kalashnikov bullet injuries in the city of Farah for appearing in public
unattended by a male relative. Dozens of people have been subjected to cruel, inhuman
or degrading punishments such as amputation and stoning ordered by the Taleban courts.
Over a dozen people are believed to have been executed.
Immediately after the arrival of the Taleban in Kabul on 27 September 1996,
Amnesty International received disturbing reports of an increase in serious human rights
abuses against the civilian population. In a statement issued on 2 October, the
organization highlighted Taleban abuses against Kabul civilian population, and called
upon the governments with influence upon the Taleban to insist that the Taleban respect
human rights.i
In holding the Taleban and other warring non-governmental entities accountable
for human rights abuses during the conflict, Amnesty International has stressed their
obligation to abide by minimum humanitarian standards set down in the laws of armed
conflict. However, as the Taleban consolidate thier hold on the governmental machinery
in Afghanistan, implementing thier social and political programs and seeking recognition
as a government from the international community, they must be reminded of the
additional responsibilities and obligations that come with this in the field of human rights.
The ongoing conflict in Afghanistan has made it very difficult to gather and
corroborate information from all areas inside the country. The problem is exacerbated by
the Taleban’s approach to journalists and independent monitors. Amnesty International
has received reports that journalists have been threatened or intimidated for filing reports
which Taleban authorities do not wish to be publicised. Amnesty International’s own
communications with the Taleban have, until recently, remained unanswered.
This report is primarily based on testimonies received by Amnesty International
from victims of human rights abuses, or from those who have witnessed or are intimately
acquainted with such abuses. For security reasons, these sources have not been identified
in the report. Where published material has been used the source has been given.
2. Political background
In recent years, the Taleban (plural of Taleb which literally means religious student) led
by Mullah Mohammad Omar have been one of three major warring sides in Afghanistan
controlling now about two thirds of the country. The other two were the Jamiat-e Islami
(Society of Islam) alliance led by President Rabbani which included the forces of Shura-e
Nezar (Supervisory Council) of Commander Ahmad Shah Masood; and an alliance of
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Junbesh-e Melli Islami (National Islamic Movement) led by General Abdul Rashid
Dostum as well as Hezb-e Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Shi’a party
Hezb-e Wahdat. In response to the Taleban’s take-over of Kabul and additional territory
in September 1996, the other armed groups opposed to the Taleban formed a new alliance
calling itself the Defence Council. It comprises forces of the ousted government, Ahmad
Shah Masood, General Abdul Rashid Dostum and the Shi’a party, Hezb-e Wahdat and
controls the remaining third of the country. Its members have stated that they would go
to the aid of each other if attacked by the Taleban.
2.1 The Taleban
The Taleban, many of whom received religious training in Islamic schools in Pakistan,
emerged as a new military and political force in November 1994 when they captured the
city of Kandahar from other Mujahideen (soldiers of Islam) groups. The Taleban's first
significant advance was the capture in February 1995 of Maidan Shahr followed by the
capture of the headquarters of Hezb-e Islami in Charasyab south of the capital, Kabul. In
early March 1995, Taleban forces entered the Karte Seh district in western Kabul and
disarmed Hezb-e Wahdat militia who had been in control of the area. The Taleban's
presence there brought them face to face with President Rabbani’s government forces.
Government troops attacked Karte Seh on 10 March using artillery, jet fighters and
helicopter gunships. The government's advance which also involved fierce
house-to-house fighting in the district pushed the Taleban out of the area to Charasyab
which was also bombed and shelled by the government forces. The Taleban then
withdrew further south to Maidan Shahr. Heavy fighting continued between government
and Taleban forces over the control of the city. These actions involved a high toll of
civilian life, some of the killing resulting from apparently indiscriminate attacks.
Amnesty International condemned the government’s actions on 16 March 1996.
On 5 September 1995, the Taleban captured the city of Herat from the forces of
Herat governor, Ismael Khan, who was allied to the Government of President Rabbani.
The appointment of Pashtu speakers at all levels, including the Customs Department
caused problems of communication and resentment among the Dari speaking population
of Herat.
On 15 September 1995, newspapers in Pakistan reported that the Taleban had
warned diplomats, members of humanitarian organizations and all foreigners based in
Kabul to leave or take shelter in safe locations. On 20 October, Taleban forces
threatened to bombard Kabul if the forces of President Rabbani did not surrender within
four days. After a lull of several months Kabul was again subjected to indiscriminate
bombing on almost a daily basis and civilians were the main victims. Deadly rocket
attacks on Kabul reached their peak in June 1996 when over 50 civilians died and over
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100 were injured (these attacks coincided with Hezb-e Islami leader Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar resuming the post of prime minister in a peace deal with President Rabbani).
On 11 September 1996, Taleban forces captured the eastern city of Jalalabad and
the surrounding areas bordering Pakistan. On 26 September, government forces withdrew
from their positions in Kabul and moved to areas north of the city.
On 27 September, Taleban forces entered Kabul. Among their first acts was to
execute and hang former president Najibullah, who since the fall of his Soviet-backed
government in April 1992 had sheltered in a UN compound, and his brother Shahpur
Ahmadzai. The Taleban announced strict edicts along the lines of those they had imposed
in other parts of the country. These included banning women from working or going out
of their home unaccompanied by a male relative, banning girls from going to school,
ordering men to grow long beards and pray in the mosque five times a day. They also
banned music, photography, and children’s games such as kite flying. These bans were
imposed arbitrarily and enforced to different degrees in different parts of the city.
Punishments included severe beating and possible execution.
The Taleban advance towards areas north of Kabul continued for several days.
Forces of the ousted government were pushed out of the towns of Charikar and
Jabol-us-Siraj. The frontline reached the village of Gulbahar at the mouth of Panjshir
valley, the stronghold of Ahmad Shah Masood. Fighting continued for several days amid
reports of indiscriminate attacks, house burning and deliberate and arbitrary killing of
civilians. Taleban militia attempted to cross the Salang tunnel north of Kabul but were
stopped by the forces of General Dostum. The Taleban withdrew from the positions they
had captured north of Kabul. A second front was opened in western Afghanistan where
the militia held territory bordering the area controlled by General Dostum.
For most Kabulis the arrival of the Taleban meant an end to some of the severest
hardships they had endured during the previous years. There was now an end to the
Taleban rocket attacks on residential areas of Kabul which had killed civilians on an
almost daily basis. Food and other supplies could now reach the city through routes to the
south and southeast. Also with the Taleban being the only warring faction in control of
these routes, traders paying duty on goods they imported from Pakistan had just one
controlling authority to deal with, resulting initially in a decrease in prices.
Consequently, certain quarters - including some foreign aid agencies - began to speak of
a trade off between peace and stability and human rights. Many argued that human rights
violations including those of women’s rights, were a price worth paying for the
restoration of peace and stability. However, this peace appeared to be short lived; days
after the Taleban takeover of Kabul the UN and other international agencies, including
the International Committee of the Red Cross began to evacuate some of their staff from
Kabul. The Taleban’s advance to the northern areas of the country had come to a halt
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while local resistance against Taleban rule had also begun, and Kabul was once again at
risk of bombardment by forces loyal to the ousted government.
2.2 International opinion
Immediately after arriving in Kabul, the Taleban sought international recognition as the
new government of Afghanistan. Despite signs that recognition might be forthcoming
from the US, Pakistan and others, this process faltered amid continued reports about the
Taleban’s abuse of women’s rights. Indeed, a number of governments and organisations
throughout the world - Islamic and Western - have questioned some of the Taleban’s
actions and policies affecting human rights since taking over Kabul. Islamic parties in
Pakistan, such as the Jamaat-i-Islami party and Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan party, have
criticised the Taleban policies on women which they see as painting a negative picture of
Islam. The governments of Germany and the US and the European Union have made
statements pressing the Taleban leadership to respect human rights, particularly those
which relate to women. Iran has opposed Taleban positions on the rights of women.
Russia and India have also made statements expressing concern about the situation in
Afghanistan. So far no country has recognized the Taleban as a government.
2.3 Taleban’s political links
For centuries, and particularly in the past two decades, Afghanistan has been a battlefield
in proxy wars between foreign powers with vested interest in the country. The same is
true today. At one end of the spectrum, there are countries who support the recently
formed Defence Council which comprises anti-Taleban forces. These are believed to
include Iran, Central Asian states, as well as Russia and India. At the other end are
countries which support the Taleban. These are believed to include the United States,
Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.
As always, the main losers of foreign backed wars in Afghanistan have been the
civilian population who have had no active part in the hostilities. They have seen their
homes destroyed, their sons and daughters killed, their future ruined and their dignity as
human beings taken away from them. They have seen one foreign-backed faction after
another ravage their lives and homes in disregard of the most basic principles of human
rights and humanitarian law.
Amnesty International believes that governments who support these warring
factions, particularly those that have supplied arms to this conflict, have a responsibility
for their conduct in the field of human rights; they are answerable for the policies and
practices of these groups which violate fundamental human rights.
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The United States has denied any links with the Taleban. The US Assistant
Secretary of State Robin Raphel was reported in International Herald Tribune on 5
November 1996 as saying that during the Cold War, Afghanistan was a “crucible of US
strategic interest” but now the United States has little influence there, supports none of
the warring factions and has no plan for bringing the conflict to an end. The report reads:
“As long as the rival factions think they can prevail and establish control over all
of Afghanistan - and as long as such outside countries as Pakistan and Iran
continue to encourage them to believe they can win - there is no prospect for a
negotiated settlement, Ms. Raphel said. ‘We know none of them can win, but they
don’t know it,’ she said. ‘Sadly, what needs to happen is a military stalemate that
goes on long enough so that the various factions conclude they can’t win.’”
However, many Afghanistan analysts believe that the United States has had close
political links with the Taleban militia. They refer to visits by Taleban representatives to
the United States in recent months and several visits by senior US State Department
officials to Kandahar including one immediately before the Taleban took over Jalalabad.
The Guardian commented:
"Senior Taleban leaders attended a conference in Washington in mid-1996 and
US diplomats regularly travelled to Taleban headquarters. Such visits can be
explained by any government's need for contact with opposition groups, but the
timing raises doubts as does the generally approving line which US officials take
towards the Taleban.”ii
Recent accounts of the origin of the madrasas (religious schools) which the
Taleban attended in Pakistan indicate that these links may have been established at the
very inception of the Taleban movement. In an interview broadcast by the BBC World
Service on 4 October 1996, Pakistan's then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto stated that the
madrasas had been set up by Britain, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan during
the Jihad, the Islamic resistance against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. She said
Pakistan alone must not be held responsible for what has come out of the madrasas.
The history of the madrasas is shrouded in secrecy as are madrasas’s syllabi for
the Taleban. Traditionally, pupils of madrasas learnt to recite the Koran. However, at the
time of their emergence in 1994 Taleban ‘students’ were able to operate sophisticated
military technology including tanks and air planes. Observers concluded that either
foreign technical staff were operating the Taleban’s sophisticated military equipment or
the Taleban were given military training in the madrasas.
The training and assistance provided to the Taleban fits the pattern of support
from outside for all the armed groups operating in Afghanistan today. The continued
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interference of external powers in Afghanistan has continued to severely undermine the
UN’s efforts to bring peace to the country.
2.4 Alleged military links
Many Afghans and other commentators believe that Pakistan is helping the Taleban
militarily and there is a body of independently made observations that appears to support
this view. Foreign correspondents have described the use of Urdu language by the
Taleban guards speaking to their superiors on radio telephone systems as a strange
practice among a militia with a clear devotion to the Pashtun language. Naturally,
Taleban religious students could have learnt Urdu during their long years of stay as
refugees in Pakistan and their use of Urdu could therefore be a matter of habit - as was
explained by the Pakistan's former Interior Minister, Nasirullah Babar, during a radio
interview - but other observations are harder to discount. For example, witnesses reported
to journalists seeing Taleban militia armed with heavy and light weapons entering
Afghanistan territory from Pakistan immediately before their take over of Jalalabad.
Time magazine in its 4 November 1996 issue published interviews with some of
the 26 Pakistanis who had been captured around 13 October 1996 while fighting against
forces of Ahmad Shah Masood near the Salang Pass. The captured soldiers said they had
been recruited and paid by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to fight alongside
the Taleban. One of the prisoners said his Islamic paramilitary unit in Kulty Chawni in
Pakistan's Punjab province was under the control of the ISI. His mission, which he said
included 1,000 other Pakistani fighters, entered Afghanistan in the month preceding the
Taleban capture of Kabul on 27 September 1996. He said he had been transported across
the border by Pakistani military vehicles, was at the forefront of the Taleban troops who
swept into Kabul on 27 September, and received orders and money from a senior
Pakistani officer named Naser stationed in Kabul after the city fell to the Taleban.
Another captured Pakistani prisoner said he had signed up for combat with a Pakistani
intelligence officer and was given 40 days of training. He was captured at the village of
Charikar north of Kabul after it fell back to the forces of Ahmad Shah Masood following
an earlier Taleban take-over.
Since the fall of Herat to the Taleban in September 1995, President Rabbani has
persistently accused Pakistan of interfering in Afghanistan affairs in support of the
Taleban. The Taleban have accused Iran of doing the same in support of the ousted
government. Taleban criticism of Iran has intensified in recent weeks amid reports that
Afghan fighters of the ousted governor of Herat, Ismael Khan, who fled to Iran after the
fall of the city to the Taleban, have been flown from the city of Mashad to join the
fighting between the Taleban forces and those of the Defence Council in Badghis
province, northwest of Afghanistan.
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3. Abuses in Taleban held areas
3.1 Indiscriminate killings of civilians
Over the past five years, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed as a result of
indiscriminate rocket attacks by different forces against residential areas in and around
Kabul. Amnesty International has consistently condemned indiscriminate attacks on
civilians by all parties in the conflict, including the killing of thousands in Kabul in
1994 during the fighting between forces of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, General Dostum and
those of President Rabbani’s government.
Photo caption: April: 1996 Taleban militia beseiging Kabul. Many
residential areas in Kabul were hit by rockets launched from positions
such as this.
The most recent wave of attacks were launched by the Taleban who, for the past
two years, had laid siege to the city. As the Taleban prepared to siege Kabul last year
[September 1995], they issued a five-day ultimatum that they would attack Kabul if the
forces of President Rabbani did not surrender. Amnesty International issued an urgent
appeal on 22 September calling on the Taleban, and all other warring factions, to abide
by the principles of international humanitarian law and refrain from deliberate or
indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population of Kabul. The Taleban withdrew
their threat to bombard the city.
Hundreds of unarmed civilians have been the victims of indiscriminate killings by
the Taleban in the last two years. In November 1995, Amnesty International again
warned the international community of its growing concern for the safety of the civilian
population of Kabul after a renewed bombardment of the city in which at least 57
unarmed civilians were killed and over 150 were injured in the residential areas of the
city in three days of indiscriminate rocket and artillery barrages fired from Taleban
positions south of Kabul.
In one day alone, on 11 November 1995, at least 36 civilians were killed when
over 170 rockets as well as shells hit civilians areas. A salvo crashed into Foruzga
Market forcing the shoppers and traders to run for cover. Rockets struck the Taimani
district where many people from other parts of Kabul have settled. Other residential areas
hit by artillery and rocket attacks were the Bagh Bala district in the northwest of Kabul
and Wazir Akbar Khan where much of the city's small foreign community live. A rocket
came through a window of the only working private film studio in Kabul while the crew
was filming a scene. Nine people in the studio died on the spot, including director
Hamyoon Sadozai, one of Afghanistan's best-known film makers. The only survivor was
reportedly thrown out of a window by the force of the blast without serious injuries.
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Among the victims was an 11-year-old girl who had come to watch her father, a famous
actor, on the set. Hospital sources in Kabul have described the killings at this time as
among the most serious and the bloodiest events since fighting started again around the
city in mid-October 1995.
Since that time, rocket attacks continued on an almost daily basis though with
irregular intensity. The last victims of Taleban rocket attacks before the take-over of
Kabul were at least nine civilians who were killed and more than a dozen who were
injured on 25 September 1996.
Scores of civilians have been killed in the fighting north of Kabul since the
Taleban captured the city on 27 September 1996. For example, bombs dropped from a
Taleban plane on 24 October 1996 killed at least 20 people, mostly children, in the
village of Kalakan, north of Kabul. Air raids have also been carried out by the
anti-Taleban alliance. In several instances bombs dropped from planes have hit civilian
areas with no sign of military activity, killing several people including children.
Civilians have had their houses deliberately destroyed in the ongoing conflict. On
22 October, an entire village was almost completely burnt out by the Taleban forces
taking revenge against civilian villagers because of an earlier attack by anti-Taleban
forces against Taleban positions in the nearby hills. Between 20 and 30 Taleban guards
reportedly torched at least 116 homes in the hamlet of Sarcheshma north of Kabul.
Journalists visiting the hamlet on 24 October noted that only four buildings had escaped
the mass burning. Eye-witnesses told them that Taleban guards had entered their village
several days earlier and ordered all the villagers to hand in their weapons. The villagers
protested that it was dangerous for them not to have any weapons to use in self-defence
against unexpected intruders but Taleban guards insisted that they should all disarm. The
villagers handed in their guns, then the Taleban warned them to report any sign of Ahmad
Shah Masood forces trying to enter the village. During the night some of Masood’s
troops reportedly penetrated the village and began to shoot at the positions held by the
Taleban who returned the fire with rocket attacks killing several people. Masood’s forces
withdrew and Taleban guards entered the village. The villagers told them they had taken
no part in the attack, that those who had carried out the attack were soldiers who had
entered and then withdrawn from the village, but Taleban guards ignored their
explanation and poured petrol on the houses and set them ablaze, burning food and all
other belongings before the eyes of the villagers. Destruction of houses as reprisal or
punishment is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Amnesty International has not been able to locate possible victims or witnesses of
indiscriminate attacks by anti-Taleban forces in other Taleban-held territory such as
Kandahar and Herat but has been informed that in the past forces of the ousted
government and other factions have carried out such attacks.
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3.2 Ill-treatment of women in the context of restrictions on women’s rights
Amnesty International has long been concerned about the situation of women in all areas
of Afghanistan who have been victims of abuses for many years by armed guards
belonging to the warring factions. The international community, through any influence it
can exert, must make serious efforts to ensure that a climate is created in Afghanistan in
which women can fully enjoy their human rights, that women are not treated as spoils of
war and subjected to rape and other forms of torture.
Amnesty International believes that the situation of women in areas controlled by
the Taleban deserves particular attention. Under the Taleban's code, women are not
allowed to work outside homes or to leave their houses without having a reason
acceptable to the Taleban. Women defying these orders have been brutally beaten in
public by Taleban guards wielding long chains. Amnesty International condemns such
beating and ill-treatment of women. It also considers women detained or otherwise
physically restricted under Taleban codes solely for reason of their gender to be prisoners
of conscience.
While Amnesty International takes no position on conditionality of aid, the
response of many aid agencies to Taleban stricture is illustrative of the grave human
rights implications of the Taleban’s policies on women. A number of relief agencies have
already suspended their programs in areas under Taleban control. In 1995 UNICEF
suspended its educational programs in Taleban controlled areas on the grounds that
Taleban’s opposition to education for girls violates the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child which prohibits such discrimination. In March 1996, a number of
non-governmental organisations including Save the Children UK also suspended their
humanitarian programme in western Afghanistan. Aid agencies had not been able to
come to mutually acceptable agreements with senior Taleban officials to enable them to
carry out their humanitarian operations. They have stated that restrictions on women’s
employment, which for cultural reasons was already limited, had removed from the
humanitarian organizations all opportunities to consult and communicate directly with
Afghan women. Most recently, the British aid organization Oxfam suspended its
program when the Taleban stopped their female staff from working. Oxfam officials said
that, as their programs depended on the involvement of women, they would remain
suspended until they can get an agreement from the Taleban to allow their female staff
back.
Photo caption: A woman in a burqa accompanied by a male relative
walking past Taleban tanks which entered parts of Kabul briefly in early
1995.
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In recent weeks, the humanitarian work of the United Nations agencies and
non-governmental organizations has been severely curtailed by the Taleban authorities,
which do not permit women staff to participate in ongoing programs outside of the health
sector. Without women staff, agencies are not able to carry out needs assessments,
distribution, monitoring and other activities vital to reaching individuals in need.
Agencies have noted a dramatic increase in mine-related injuries suffered by women and
children following the prohibition of women’s participation in mine awareness programs
and the closure of schools by the Taleban. Harassment of international and national staff
of United Nations agencies, non-government organizations and the international media
has increased substantially in the last two weeks. This includes the arrest and
unacknowledged detention of staff members, threats of violence and, on several
occasions, raids on premises and personal residences of officials by armed Taleban
fighters.
Taleban leaders have said very little about the reasons for these restrictions other
than stating that the bans would be lifted when security returns to Kabul. They have not
explained what risks women pose to the security of areas they control.
The Taleban’s record so far shows that even in southwestern Afghanistan where
their control has been uncontested for nearly two years - such as in Kandahar - these
restrictions have remained permanently in place. In a few areas, young girls between the
ages of four and nine are reportedly allowed to attend school; also, some health workers
have been allowed to stay in their jobs but this may be more out of necessity than a
change of policy. A woman from Kandahar sent Amnesty International her impression of
life in the city:
“There is no education and no learning here. All schools and educational centres
are closed. There are no female doctors in Kandahar that I know of, so we cannot
even go to doctors. I can tell you what happened to Shayesta. She is about 22
years old. She got very ill so she asked her cousin Abdulsalam to take her to a
doctor. This was in Jowza 1375 [May/June 1996]. On the way to the hospital,
they were stopped by armed Taleban guards several times. In the end, the guards
started beating Abdulsalam for taking Shayesta to the doctor. They then warned
Shayesta that she would be killed if she appeared in the streets again. Shayesta’s
illness got even worse, and Abdulsalam’s injuries forced him to stay at home for
several weeks.”
The impact of the Taleban restrictions on women is most acutely felt in cities
such as Herat and Kabul where there are significant numbers of educated and
professional women, compared with the countryside where women have traditionally
been excluded from public life. Kabul University, which has closed since the Taleban
took over, reportedly had about 8,000 women students while thousands of professional
women worked in different capacities in the city. In Herat about 3,000 women reportedly
lost their jobs after the Taleban took control in September 1995. In Kabul, Taleban
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restrictions appear to be enforced arbitrarily but in different degrees in different parts of
the city.
Many women wore burqa - a garment covering the body from top to toe with
only a small, lace-covered opening to look through - in Kabul but it was not an enforced
dress code. Women appeared in public usually wearing scarves that just covered the
head. Mujahideen governments in the past repeatedly tried to impose restrictions on
women but these were never fully successful. In August 1995, the government of
President Rabbani barred a delegation of 12 women from attending the Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing, saying that issues discussed at the conference were
against basic Islamic principles. Nonetheless, women continued to work and study
outside their homes. Kabul women demonstrated in the streets in July 1996 against the
then prime minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who announced a series of measures to curb
women’s rights.
Working women in Herat and Kabul protested in vain against the rigid code the
Taleban imposed. A woman from Herat informed Amnesty International that when the
Taleban entered the city in September 1995, they closed certain government departments,
women's public baths and girl schools. Women who were government employees
received their salaries without working for a while, but that too was then cut. Hospitals
were closed for two or three days. They then had to open them because they realized
female members of the families of Taleban needed medical treatment.
Working women who demonstrated in Herat in late 1995 against restrictions were
attacked and beaten by the Taleban. The women said they would not go home and were
prepared to die. Taleban leaders agreed to pay the salaries of those women who would
stay at home. The women went home but received no salary. Now, they are frightened of
leaving home.
Women who show even an inch of a bare ankle or who are found to move about
without a reason acceptable to the Taleban have been relentlessly targeted. Amnesty
International received the following testimony from eye-witnesses who explained how on
14 July 1996 in the city of Farah, a woman named Turpeki received bullet injuries for
appearing in public.
“Turpeki was taking her toddler to the doctor. The child had acute diarrhoea and
needed to be seen by a doctor soon. Turpeki was dressed in a borqa. She reached
the market area when a teen-aged Taleban guard noticed her. The guard called
her. Turpeki knew that if she stopped she would be beaten for appearing in
public. She was also frightened that her child might die if she did not hurry. She
began to run. The Taleban guard aimed his kalashnikov at her and fired several
rounds. Turpeki was hit but did not die. People intervened and took the mother
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and the child to the doctor. Turpeki’s family then complained to the Taleban
leaders, but were simply told that it had been the woman’s fault. She should not
have been appearing in public in the first place; once she did, she should stop,
when told so, and not run away.”
Foreign journalists visiting Kabul after the arrival of the Taleban have filed
various reports on the beating of women by the Taleban guards. The Guardian newspaper
on 4 October 1996 published the following report:
“The young woman was carrying her baby, her two friends walking beside her.
All three were veiled, their faces completely hidden from view. Suddenly a
passing car braked to a halt and two men jumped out. From the style of their
turbans, wrapped round their heads with one end loose and hanging almost down
to the waist, it was clear they were the Taleban from Kandahar.
Each was brandishing a stick. They set about beating the women on the
legs as their arms rose and fell, they shouted that the women should never come
out in public dressed in such immoral fashion again. A few inches of bare leg
were showing above the women's ankles between their shoes and the bottom of
their pyjama-style trousers.
The woman with the baby staggered and swayed beneath the blows,
desperately trying to stay upright. None of the three dared to utter a sound as the
sticks whipped their legs. Then the men got back in the car and drove off. The
incident lasted less than five minutes, but it was sufficiently brutal to leave the
women quaking as they limped silently away.”
The Independent newspaper reported on 9 October 1996:
“Since the Taleban militia came to Kabul more than a week ago Farida [a young
Afghan woman] has been afraid to leave her flat. .. Three days before, two
women, neighbours of Farida, had gone shopping. They were both wearing their
burqas but a gang of Taleban militia beat them up anyway; the women’s ankles
were showing.”
The same article said that a mother who was struggling with two children and her
groceries was whipped by the Taleban with a car antenna because she had let her veil slip
a fraction.
People have also been ill-treated for their use of cosmetics. A married couple had
come from Samangan province to Kabul after the Taleban captured the city to visit their
friends in early October 1996. They were stopped in the market by Taleban. One Taleban
guard slapped the women in the face while the other beat her husband severely. They
were accused of planning to buy cosmetics.
Amnesty International November 1996 AI Index: ASA 11/12/9614 Afghanistan: Grave abuses in the name of religion
Women who did not have a burqa before the Taleban arrived in Kabul have had
to spend excessive amounts of money to buy one. In mid-October 1996, a burqa
reportedly cost as much as $33, about three times the salary of a senior civil servant. The
serious financial burden this imposes on women who have lost their jobs has led to
further punishment. An eye-witness reported to Amnesty International:
“A Taleban guard stopped an Afghan woman who had gone out of the house, and
beat her severely with a cable rod for not wearing a burqa. The woman cried that
she could not afford to buy a burqa but the guard did not stop beating her. People
gathered and the Taleb let her go.”
Female nurses form the backbone of the health system in Kabul. Those who had
gone to help their patients in early October 1996, were repeatedly beaten up by the
Taleban guards. In one hospital, the Taleban reportedly told all 80 female patients to go
home as their modesty could not be preserved in an overcrowded ward.
Amnesty International was informed by a visitor to Kabul of the plight of two
Afghan nurses who were assaulted by the Taleban and beaten. The nurses had been told
by Taleban officials that they should continue working at the [name withheld] hospital
while others had been sent home. On 30 October, the Taleban official in charge of the
security of the area - reportedly a 17-year-old youth - came to the hospital. The nurses
were not wearing burqas as they considered it was not a practical dress for a nurse in a
hospital, but they were fully covered with scarves and long coats. The Taleb got very
angry. He grabbed the women by their hands dragged them to the tree nearby, broke a
tree branch and began to hit them. One of the women tried to run away. The Taleb forced
her onto the floor and held her in between his feet while beating her with the stick.
Taleban edicts have also hit hard an estimated 30,000 widows - many of whom
are the sole providers for their families - as well as many other women who do not have a
close male relative to accompany them in public. Some widows have been allowed to
work in areas under the Taleban control, but even for them it is not easy to obtain
permission to work. A group of women who were stopped from working for a
UN-funded aid project in Kabul told journalists:
“Ten of us went to the Taleban's municipal leaders shortly after they took over
here to tell them that if they stopped us from working for good we and our
children would die. We cried a lot and told them the lives of more than 1,000
people depended on the food we bring home and that we were worried sick. We
told them it was either work or death for us, and they finally gave us permission
to work provided we wear proper Islamic dress, which covers us completely, at
work and on the way there.”iii
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However, a number of the widows who have been allowed to work have
reportedly been beaten on the legs and feet by Taleban fighters for failing to be fully
covered when venturing outside.
In early October 1996, children playing in the street have also been physically
assaulted by the guards. One eight-year-old victim was listening to a musical toy with
friends in the alley outside his house. According to eye-witness reports given to Amnesty
International:
“Taleban guards suddenly appeared. They snatched the toy from the child and
bashed it several times against the nearby wall until it was completely smashed.
They then grabbed the boy by the arm and slapped him hard in the face several
times.”
3.3 Deliberate and arbitrary killings
Amnesty International has documented numerous deliberate and arbitrary killings by all
parties in the conflict, some of which have taken place among refugee communities
outside Afghanistan. Examples of these cases can be found in earlier Amnesty
International documents.
While no killings were reported after the Taleban entered Kandahar in November
1994, their advance to other provinces reportedly resulted in many targeted killings of
civilians. Scores of non-combatants have been killed by Taleban guards deliberately and
arbitrarily. They include non-Pashtun civilian men whom the Taleban have suspected of
anti-Taleban activity, captive soldiers or those who have surrendered to the Taleban as
well as civilians killed in retaliation for real or alleged opposition to the Taleban. The
following chronology, which is by no means exhaustive, provides a specimen of the
reports Amnesty International has received. It is impossible in the circumstances, to
confirm and verify each single report. But together they represent a pattern of serious
human rights abuses.
An eye-witness reported to Amnesty International about the killing of
non-combatants after the fall of Herat in September 1995:
“I saw many dead bodies in Pul-e Dhakab bordering Farah, Nimruz and Helmand
provinces. Some corpses were lying under the bridge. People had buried them
several times but the animals had pulled them out of their graves. I counted 13
corpses under the bridge but there had been more. They all looked like men.
Passengers from the surrounding area travelling in a vehicle told us they had not
been fighters. These people had been taken prisoner and then killed in revenge
for an earlier attack by Ismael Khan forces against the Taleban positions. They
Amnesty International November 1996 AI Index: ASA 11/12/9616 Afghanistan: Grave abuses in the name of religion
thought the men would have been killed just before the take-over of Herat on 5
September 1995.”
Another report speaks of about 14 Panjshiri fighters who had run away to hide in
the mountains after about 20 of their fighters had been killed following an attack by the
Taleban. According to local people, the men ran short of food after a few days and came
to the town to surrender on [3 or 4 September]. Near a place called Pomp-e Moulavi a
group of Taleban guards stopped them. The Panjshiris were unarmed and held their hands
up in surrender but Taleban guards shot them dead anyway. They then forbade people
from moving the corpses saying people should see the fate of those opposing the Taleban.
An eye-witness from Herat reported to Amnesty International about the killing of
captured fighters who had given up fighting in Herat.
“Many people have been killed by the Taleban. I have pictures which show the
skeletons. When the Taleban came to Herat, they killed retreating soldiers of
Ismael Khan. The military situation had deteriorated and many Ismael Khan
troops were fleeing. The Taleban captured these fighters and killed them in
groups of 10 or 20. Mullah Yar Mohammed who became the governor of Herat
was very intent in killing the retreating forces.”
A group of visitors to Herat in mid-1996 were told by the local people that
following the capture of Herat by the Taleban in September 1995, many soldiers of the
former Ismael Khan army who had thrown away their weapons were arrested. They were
held in custody for several days, but were then all killed. The killings took place in the
night. Many ordinary people were also arrested and killed on suspicion of being
supporters of the ousted Ismael Khan administration. Taleban guards then began to
search for those suspected of anti-Taleban views, especially young non-Pashtun men and
this search has continued.
Several eye-witnesses have reported that the roads near Herat were scattered with
corpses after the take-over of the city by the Taleban. Some dead bodies had been eaten
by wild animals. Other eye-witnesses have reported the deliberate and arbitrary killing of
some 20 people in a dried up river bed not far from a small market place in Delaram
area. Local people have testified that during the incident the Taleban arrested about 300
people on suspicion of being Ismael Khan supporters. Over a dozen civilians were
reportedly killed during a raid on the market place to capture people. Taleban then
reportedly took the prisoners to the rocks near river Khashrood, shot about 20 of them
dead and threw their bodies in to the river bed. Some were released, and others are
unaccounted for.
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Two labourers aged 16 and 18 who had been detained by the Taleban after the
fall of Herat were released after about one month because they could convince them they
had had no connection with Ismael Khan forces. They travelled to Kabul passing through
the provinces of Herat, Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul and Ghazni which were under
Taleban control. They saw many dead bodies lying by the road. They counted about 400
corpses on the way. Local people told them that a large number of those killed had been
fighters who had surrendered or civilians.
Even after Herat fell to the Taleban, targeted killings have not stopped there. On
4 July 1996, a visitor to Herat landed at the airport and travelled to the city in a car.
About five kilometres from the city, he saw corpses of five men who had been killed
recently.
“They had few of their clothes left on them, and had been laid by the road next
to each other. They looked like young men. There were signs of bullet injuries on
their bodies and their heads.”
The visitor got out of the car and asked the locals why these men were laid there.
He was told they had been soldiers in the previous administration of Ismael Khan. They
had got rid of their weapons and were living as ordinary civilians in their homes. But the
Taleban got to know of their past. They were then arrested and summarily executed.
Their bodies were laid by the roadside to deter anti-Taleban activity. He was told no one
dares to bury the bodies.
An Amnesty International delegation visiting Afghanistan was informed that on
15 July 1996, at least 30 young men in their twenties were taken out of Herat Prison and
summarily executed. A Taleban official, Amir Khan Mutaqi, was quoted in the Pakistani
paper, The News, as saying that these killings had not been executions, but killings in
armed confrontation. Further investigation by Amnesty International confirmed that those
killed had indeed been prisoners. The actual figure of those executed may be higher.
Amnesty International is currently investigating reports that several other mass executions
have taken place in Herat.
As the Taleban captured areas around Kabul, they deliberately and arbitrarily
killed many non-combatants. Davood, an army driver working with the forces of the
ousted President Rabbani was reportedly killed around 20 June 1996 in Logar. His
vehicle was caught between the fighters of the Taleban and those of Rabbani's. The
Taleban forces took over the nearby hill and the government soldiers ran away. Davood’s
wife living as a refugee in Pakistan told Amnesty International:
“Taleban guards ordered my husband and another man in the car to get out and
climb up the hill. They did so. They walked up the hill with their hands on their
Amnesty International November 1996 AI Index: ASA 11/12/9618 Afghanistan: Grave abuses in the name of religion
head. Suddenly, the Taleban fired at them from behind. We knew he had been
killed but they held my husband's corpse and did not give it to us. After about 16
days, the area was captured by the government forces again. My husband's corpse
was given to us for burial. His hands were on his head and there were about 50
bullet marks on his body. Local people told us my husband and his friend were
forced to leave the vehicle and walk up the hill. Then they heard several shots
fired at them.”
After their arrival in Kabul, the Taleban ordered men to pray five times a day in
the mosque. Journalists saw young Taleban guards carrying sticks and lengths of hose
pipes herding people into the mosque at prayer times. People objecting to being forced to
pray were beaten. At least one man [name and certain details withheld] was reported to
have been killed deliberately and arbitrarily by the Taleban in early October in Kabul for
not going to the mosque. A family member of the victims told Amnesty International:
"Taleban guards came to his house. They asked him why he had not attended the
prayers that day, or the day before and the day before that. He said he was a
Muslim and did not think it was necessary to do his prayers in the mosque while
he could do them at home. He said he had done his prayers at home. But the
guards held him and took him to the street, shouting at him, calling him Kafir
(godless). They then threw him on floor and emptied many Kalashnikov bullets
into his stomach.”
Soon after the fall of Kabul, fighting between the Taleban and forces loyal to the
ousted government of President Rabbani spread to fresh areas north and northeast of
Kabul. Taleban positions came under attack on 10 October from surrounding villages and
the Taleban reportedly took retaliatory measures against villagers, rounding them up,
killing several of them whom they described as residents collaborating with Taleban
rivals. In one incident, over a dozen villagers were reportedly rounded up by Taleban
fighters, beaten with rifle butts and then taken prisoner.
3.4 Prisoners of conscience and other detainees
Throughout the conflict in Afghanistan, armed groups have held prisoners of conscience.
The Taleban are no exception, they have not only taken prisoners of war but have
detained hundreds of people, including children and women, solely because of their
ethnic origin, because they did not obey religious decrees of the Taleban or because they
sympathized or were suspected of sympathizing with the Taleban’s opponents.
Detainees appear to be held in order to punish, humiliate or intimidate them, or to be used
as hostages. In some cases, they have been released after they have paid a bribe. Most are
held incommunicado and family members find it hard to trace them. Most detainees are
held in the prisons taken over from the previous administration but some have been kept
AI Index: ASA 11/12/96 Amnesty International November 1996Afghanistan: Grave abuses in the name of religion 19
in metal transport containers left behind from the period of the Soviet presence. These
containers, without sanitary provisions, have been used by warring factions as both
places of detention and as means of punishment; as they are not insulated they become
unbearably hot in summer and equally unbearably cold in winter. The families of those
taken prisoner are suffering the agony of not knowing where their sons, brothers and
fathers are, what has happened to them, or whether they are alive or dead.
Amnesty International considers prisoners held solely on account of their ethnic
origin, their religious beliefs or their assumed political convictions to be prisoners of
conscience and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.
At least six non-Pashtun men arrested by the Taleban in Charasyab when the area
briefly came under their control in early 1995, were reportedly taken to Kandahar and
held for about eight months in metal containers in despicable sanitary conditions. They
were then taken to the war front near Kabul.
In early 1996, dozens of people were reportedly arrested in Herat and Farah
provinces for their assumed sympathies or support for former governor Ismael Khan.
Most were released after several weeks or months. The fate of others remains unknown.
In village Gozara in Siavashan Wolaswali east of Herat airport Taleban guards in
early 1996 entered houses and reportedly arrested about 200 men. About three of them
died in custody following torture. People then found out that they could pay a certain
amount money to get their relatives freed. A second Taleban group discovered that the
first group had taken money to release prisoners. A fight broke out between the two
groups and several people were killed from both sides.
In the first few days the Taleban entered Kabul, their armed militia detained
hundreds, possibly over 1,000 civilians during house to house searches throughout the
city. They were being held for allegedly sympathising with the ousted president,
Burhanuddin Rabbani. Taleban guards cordoned the city’s streets and entered homes
searching for evidence of cooperation with the former administration. They destroyed
whatever they considered to be ‘un-Islamic’ -- such as tape recorders, cassettes,
magazines and toys. They then took away the young men of the family on suspicion of
being collaborators. People were also detained from hospitals and bazaars. Families of
the victims, almost all young men, have no idea of their whereabouts. Many fear that the
prisoners may be sent to clear minefields for the Taleban fighters. Other families have
been afraid to go out into the streets, afraid to answer their doors, and afraid that their
loved ones would suffer the brutal consequence of being found ‘un-Islamic’ by the
militia.
Amnesty International November 1996 AI Index: ASA 11/12/9620 Afghanistan: Grave abuses in the name of religion
On 10 October, Taleban reportedly took away scores of young boys and men in
raids on various mosques where they had been ordered to go and pray five time a day.
The Taleban told them that they would have to fight with the Taleban fighters against
forces loyal to the ousted government. The Taleban have denied that these men have been
detained. However, the men's families still have no idea of their whereabouts and fear
that they may have been taken forcibly to the war front.
Amnesty International has received reports that the fate and whereabouts of a
number of other Afghans believed to have been detained in Kabul after the arrival of the
Taleban are also unknown. Families, who have requested Amnesty International not to
disclose their names, have not been able to trace them. The majority of them have simply
not returned home although they had been expected to do so. Among them are women’s
rights activists.
Photo caption: Containers such as these have been used by some of the
warring factions, including the Taleban, to detain their prisoners
3.5 Torture and ill-treatment of the detainees
Amnesty International has consistently called on all parties to refrain from torture and
ill-treatment of prisoners, as demanded by international humanitarian standards
governing armed conflict. However, Taleban guards have without any sign of constraint
beaten and kicked people in their custody. Long term prisoners have reportedly been
severely tortured and made to do forced labour in life threatening conditions such as
digging trenches in mined areas.
Beating during house searches is systematic. In mid-September 1995, Taleban
conducted large-scale house to house searches in Herat to collect weapons. Everyone
suspected of possessing arms was severely, sometimes fatally, beaten with wire cables,
wooden sticks or rifle butts. Amnesty International was informed that in January 1996
alone, at least 50 to 60 people were beaten in Herat and Farah provinces during such
searches.
At times, beating is used to force prisoners to pay a fine. In early 1996, such
prisoners included officials who had attempted to curb drug trafficking in areas not
previously controlled by the Taleban. After the Taleban took over these territories, they
reportedly legalised opium cultivation. Opium farmers reportedly gave to the Taleban
names of the officials of the department to prevent drug smuggling who had confiscated
their crop. These officials were arrested and subjected to beatings until they agreed to
pay fines to the aggrieved opium farmers. One such person was a police officer under
Ismael Khan. He was arrested by the Taleban after they captured Herat, and was taken to
a detention cell where he was beaten for about a week until he agreed to pay a fine. When
he payed the fine, he was released.
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